The Boy Who Refused
by mykkila09
Summary: Part of the Doing the Unexpected series. This one deals with Harry's return to the Wizarding World...summary inside


**Title: **The Boy Who Refused  
**Setting: **The Philosopher's Stone**  
Summary: **Hagrid shows up to bring Harry back to the Wizarding World. Things however, do not go as planned.  
**Warnings: **OOC-ness, and major AU**  
Word Count: **1,876

**A/N: **I'm not even sure how this idea came about initially, but it did and it wouldn't stop bugging me. There are many moments in the HP series when I thought about what it would've been like if Harry had just said no; if he hadn't done what everyone expected. This…is one of them.

**A/N 2: **this won't be too long; probably the shortest thing I've ever written. I also don't know how to write Hagrid's way of speaking, so I didn't do that. Anyways…enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and all its affiliates are the property of JK Rowling, Bloomsbury/Scholastic Books and Warner Bros. Studios. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made from this. In simple terms: I DO NOT OWN.

"Speaking"

* * *

The Dursleys were tired. For the last few days they had been moving around, hoping to get away from the entirely annoying and unwelcome flock of birds (owls to be more precise) that had flooded their home days before.

Now, while a flock of birds would be enough to send anyone running from their homes, it was what the bird carried that had the family constantly moving; the owls carried with them letters for their nephew, one Harry Potter, inviting him to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yes…magic.

And since the Dursleys disliked anything magic, there was no way they would've allowed the owl or the letters entry into their home, nor their nephew to accept it either, so the family fled.

They moved and moved until they found an obscure place; The Hut on the Rock. A place in the middle of the lake.

As far as they were concerned, it was perfect.

As such, the family moved there and settled in, hoping that everything would be peaceful.

They were wrong.

Just after midnight, while Petunia Dursley and her husband Vernon along with their son Dudley, were sleeping peacefully, the door to the hut banged opened.

Harry hadn't been asleep, but the sound startled him all the same. So he hid behind the fireplace while his aunt and uncle investigated.

Standing in the doorway was a very large man. And not in the sense that he was fat, but more that he was tall, taller than anyone they'd ever seen.

The force of the bang and lifted the door from the hinges, so the man stepped inside and turned to fix it. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Vernon demanded, staring at the man in confusion and anger.

The man turned around, "Name's Rubeus Hagrid. I'm from Hogwarts. Dumbledore sent me."

The words sent anger through both Petunia and Vernon.

"You're from that freaky place!" Vernon cursed. "Tell that old fool, we don't—

"Don't!" Hagrid interrupted, glaring at Vernon, "Don't insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me."

Vernon spluttered but said nothing else.

"Now," Hagrid said, looking around, "Where's Harry."

He spotted Dudley over by the table and smiled. "There you are Harry."

Before the man could continue, Dudley spoke up, "I'm not Harry." He pointed to where his cousin was hiding. "He's Harry."

Cursing his cousin in his head, Harry stepped out. "I'm Harry."

"'Course you are," Hagrid nodded. "Well I'm here for you."

"Why?" Harry asked, taking a slight step back from the man. "What do you want with me?"

"I'm here to take you back," Hagrid said.

"Back where?" Harry asked.

"To the Wizarding World of course," Hagrid explained, "You're a wizard Harry."

"I'm a what now?" Harry stared at the man in disbelief, and some confusion.

Hagrid frowned at the boy. Did he not know? How was that possible?

"You're a wizard," Hagrid repeated, "you can do magic."

At the words, Harry tensed. "Magic isn't real." Of course it wasn't. His aunt and uncle had drilled that into his mind over the years.

Hagrid was shocked. "Where would you get a stupid thing like that? Magic is real. Your parents had it, so you have it."

"That's not possible," Harry replied.

Seeing he wasn't getting through, Hagrid pointed his umbrella at the fireplace and started a fire.

The action made Petunia whimper and Vernon growl while Harry stared in disbelief.

"How did you do that?" Harry asked.

"My wand," Hagrid explained, "It's part of my umbrella. Can't really do much with it though."

"So that was magic?" Harry asked, looking at the fireplace where the fire was going.

"Yes," Hagrid nodded.

The man then pulled out a cake and gave to the boy as he proceeded to explain what he knew about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. He also talked about Harry's parents, to the shock of the boy, and explained how they really died.

When he was done, the family was quiet.

But Hagrid was on a mission and ready to continue. So he turned to Harry. "Well, come along lad. We've got to get to Diagon Alley and collect your school things later on."

Harry, who had been very quiet, looked up at the man. "No."

The word shocked not only Hagrid, but the Dursleys as well.

"What?" Hagrid looked over the boy.

"I said no," Harry repeated. He took a deep breath and continued. "I'm not going with you. First of all, I don't even know who you are and I'm not about to go anywhere with a stranger I just met twenty minutes ago. Second of all, magic is bad and I don't want to do it."

Hagrid honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing, and neither could the Dursleys either.

"What do you mean magic is bad?!" Hagrid question. "Magic is not bad. It's a good thing."

"Is it?" Harry shook his head. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon was right; magic is bad. Magic got me in trouble when I was younger and because of magic, my parents are dead. So I'm sorry. I don't want anything to do with it."

Vernon looked from his nephew to the man and then, he grinned. "You heard him. He's not going anywhere. So you just leave."

Hagrid ignored Vernon and looked at Harry. "You have to go."

"I don't have to do anything," Harry retorted. "I don't want to go and I'm not going."

"You heard him," Vernon gloated. "Get out."

Stunned, Hagrid could only do as the man said and he left.

After that, it was as if something changed.

The next day, the family made their way back to Privet Drive and over the next few days, Harry was moved out of the cupboard under the stairs and given Dudley's second bedroom as his own.

During those few days, another representative from the school, this time a woman named Minerva McGonagall. And just like with Hagrid, Harry refused to leave with her, no matter how much she tried to get him to change his mine.

Mystified, the woman had returned to the school and made her report to Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster.

A few days after that, the man himself showed up on the doorstep.

"Can I help you?" Petunia asked when she opened her door.

"Yes my name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Albus said, "And I was wondering if I could speak with Mr Potter?"

For a moment, Petunia considered slamming the door in the man's face. But, for some reason she didn't. Maybe because it was the fact that she enjoyed the look on the people's faces when her nephew (and wasn't that a kicker that she was claiming him as such?) told them he wasn't going to that freaky school of theirs.

So, she allowed him to come in.

"Harry," Petunia called out towards the kitchen.

"Yes Aunt Petunia?" Harry replied as he walked out. He stopped when he saw the old man sitting there.

"There's someone here to see you," Petunia told him and then she took a seat and settled in to enjoy herself.

"Hello Mr Potter," Albus smiled at the young boy, "My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Hello sir," Harry nodded respectfully. If there was one thing his aunt taught him, it was to be respectful.

"Mr Potter," Albus started, "it is to my understanding that you do not want to attend Hogwarts. May I ask why?"

"Because I don't want to do magic," Harry said simply.

"But your parents Mr Potter," Albus said, trying to convince the child, "they were magic and I'm sure it was their very intention that you attend the school that they did."

"And magic killed them," Harry told him.

The words took Albus by surprise. Something that rarely, if ever, happened. "I'm sorry."

"That man," Harry explained, "Hagrid, he told me. My parents were magic and someone else with magic killed them. So why would I want magic when it killed my parents? I don't want to go to your school and I don't want to do magic. It's bad."

With that, he stood up.

"Harry," Albus stood up as well, "magic is not a bad thing. The person who uses magic badly is bad, but magic itself is not bad."

"That still doesn't change the fact that magic killed my parents," Harry told him. "And doing magic got me punished. If it wasn't for magic, my parents would be alive. If the bad man didn't have magic, he wouldn't have used it to kill my parents, would he?"

"Well, yes," Albus nodded, "however, it was through magic that your parents met and as a result had you. So you see, without magic, you would not be here."

"Maybe," Harry shrugged, "but you don't know that for sure."

At that Albus couldn't refute his statement and he stared at the boy helplessly.

"I'm sorry you came all the way here," Harry said, "but I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm staying here."

Having said his piece, Harry returned to the kitchen.

Albus was unable to process what had just happened. Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter, the Saviour of the Wizarding World, had just refused magic. He could feel the well of magic within the boy and yet, the child had refused it.

Desperate, Albus turned to Petunia.

"You do not understand," Albus near pleaded to the woman, "he has to come to Hogwarts."

"There's nothing that says he has to go," Petunia sneered at the old man. "And he has chosen not to go, I will not force him. You and your world stole my sister. You are not getting her son. He doesn't want anything to do with magic and I won't force him and I won't let you do it either. If you try to, I will call the police. Now, get out of my house and don't come back."

Albus was completely stunned. He could not believe what was happening. He could make them cooperate with magic that would be more trouble than it was worth. And Petunia was right; there was no law that said a magical child _had _to go to Hogwarts. It was simply the choice they all chose.

In the end, he had no choice but to leave the house and to leave Harry behind.

~…~

Things continued to change throughout the years.

With his refusal of magic, Harry's relationship with his family continued to improve. He got a bigger room, he wasn't forced to do all the chores himself, but instead they were distributed evenly among the family. He even got new clothes and not Dudley's old ones.

He no longer had to hide in his cousin's shadow and as a result, he excelled at school. He ended up graduating at the top of his class and went on to study to become a veterinarian.

For his twenty-first birthday, he visited San Francisco and fell in love with the city. He moved there not long after.

A year later, he visited his family and during a night out, he met a young man by the name of Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**A/N 3: **so…the pre-Drarry at the end was unexpected; apparently I now can't write HP fanfiction without it including Drarry :D Anyways…what did you guys think? Review and let me know!

**A/N 4: **like I said, this is just a one-shot. If anyone wants to use it for a story, or just expand upon it, they can, just please let me know first and please also give credit.

As for RDA; I'm actually over the initial block and the chapter is coming out. I'm not making any set promises (because I don't want to disappoint anyone), but…won't be long now!


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